Isra is an Arabic word referring to what Muslims regard as Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem - specifically, to the site of Masjid al-Aqsa - alluded to in Surat Al-Isra 1: Arabic is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Muhammad is a common male name for Muslims. ... Mecca or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukkaramah; Arabic مكة المكرمة) is revered as the holiest site of Islam, and a pilgrimage to it is required of all Muslims who can afford to go. ... Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is not to be confused with the Dome of the Rock The Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى, Masjid Al-Aqsa, literally farthest mosque) is part of the complex of religious buildings in Jerusalem known as either the Majed Mount or Al-Haram ash... See also: Sura (disambiguation). ... Surat Al-Isra or Bani Israil (ie The Night Journey or The Children of Israel) is the 17th sura of the Quran. ...

سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلاً من المسجد الحرام إلى المسجد الأقصى الذي باركنا حوله

Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless (Yusuf Ali's translation)

It is believed to have been followed by the Miraj, his ascension to heaven. It is considered to have happened just over a year before the Hijra, on the 27th of Rajab; the date is celebrated as a holiday in some parts of the Muslim world. Hijra may refer to: Hijra (Hegira/Hijrah/Hejira) is an Arabic term referring to the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. ... Rajab is the seventh month of the Islamic Calendar. ... In the United States, a holiday is a day set aside by a nation or culture (in some cases, multiple nations and cultures) typically for celebration but sometimes for some other kind of special culture-wide (or national) observation or activity. ... The Islamic world is the world-wide community of all believers in Islam, who are known as Muslims, and who number approximately one-and-a-half billion people. ...

The siras go into great detail about this; however, a summary version might run: This article is not about the group of British engineering companies called Sira; see Sira (group of British companies). ...

As he was resting in the Kaaba, Gabriel came to him, and brought him the winged steed Buraq, who carried him to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where he alighted, tethered Buraq, and led other prophets in prayer. He then got back on Buraq, and was taken to the heavens, where he toured heaven and hell (described in some detail), and spoke with the earlier prophets, and with Allah. Allah told him to enjoin the Muslims to pray fifty times a day; however, Moses told Muhammad that they would never do it, and urged Muhammad to go back several times and ask for a reduction, until finally it was reduced to five times a day. The Kaaba or Kaaba, in the mosque known as Masjid al Haram in Mecca (Makkah), is the holiest place in Islam. ... Gabriel delivering the Annunciation. ... Buraq, mistakenly described as Mohammeds horse, was a creature described as being part griffin, eagle and horse. ... The Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary (Hebrew: הר הבית Har HaBayit, Arabic: الحرم الشريف Al-Haram As-Sharif), is a hotly contested religious site in the old city of Jerusalem. ... Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... Buraq, mistakenly described as Mohammeds horse, was a creature described as being part griffin, eagle and horse. ... In numerous religions, including Abrahamic religions, Jah religions, Sikhism, and many forms of Paganism, a prophet is an intermediary with a deity, particularly someone who speaks for the deity or interprets the deitys will or mind. ... Salah (other terms and spellings exist) (Arabic: صلاه , Old (Quran) Arabic: صلوة ) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is, according to many religious beliefs about the afterlife, a place of torment, of great weeping and gnashing of teeth. ... An example of allāhu written in simple Arabic calligraphy Allah ( Arabic allāhu الله) is traditionally used by Muslims as the Arabic word for God (not Gods personal name, but the equivalent of the Hebrew word El as opposed to YHWH). ... An example of allāhu written in simple Arabic calligraphy Allah ( Arabic allāhu الله) is traditionally used by Muslims as the Arabic word for God (not Gods personal name, but the equivalent of the Hebrew word El as opposed to YHWH). ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... (See also Exodus) Moses or Móshe (מֹשֶׁה Drawn, Standard Hebrew Móše, Tiberian Hebrew Mōšeh, Arabic موسى), son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. ...

Afterwards, the unbelieving Meccans regarded this as absurd, and some went to Abu Bakr and told him "Look at what your companion is saying. He says he went to Jerusalem and came back in one night." Abu Bakr told them, "If he said that, then he is truthful. I believe him concerning the news of the heavens--that an angel descends to him from the heavens. How could I not believe he went to Jerusalem and came back in a short period of time--when these are on earth?" It was for this that Abu Bakr is said to have received his nickname "as-Siddiq", the believer. Mecca or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukkaramah; Arabic مكة المكرمة) is revered as the holiest site of Islam, and a pilgrimage to it is required of all Muslims who can afford to go. ... Abu Bakr As Siddiq (Arabic ابو بكر الصديق, alternative spellings, Abubakar, Abi Bakr, Abu Bakar) (c. ...

Controversy over its historicity

Obviously, many non-Muslims regard the incident as implausible a priori. However, while most scholars accept that Muhammad claimed to have made this trip, a few dispute this as well.

John Wansbrough (a leading exponent of extreme scepticism regarding early Islamic sources, best known for his idea that the Qur'an was compiled only 200 years after Muhammad's death), for instance, argues that the entire story of the Isra and Miraj constitutes later Islamic scriptural exegesis designed to explain away the vagueness of ayah 17:1 (a literary phenomenon he claims was common in early Islamic and Jewish theology.) He holds that this verse probably does not even refer to Muhammad, and that no evidence links it to Jerusalem: "Far from providing unambiguous witness to the Arabian prophet, this particular scriptural image (israa' bi-abdeehee laylan) is employed, in but slightly varying forms, only to describe Moses' departure from Egypt" (Wansbrough, Quranic Studies). John Wansbrough was an Illinois-born historian (d. ...

The term "Masjid al-Aqsa" in the Quran

The "farthest Mosque" (al-masjid al-Aqṣa) in verse (17:1) of the Qur'an is traditionally interpreted by Muslims as referring to the site at the Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem on which the mosque of that name now stands. This interpretation is already given by the earliest biographer of Muhammad - Ibn Ishaq - and is confirmed by numerous Hadith. The term used for mosque, "masjid", literally means "place of prostration", and includes monotheistic places of worship such as Solomon's Temple, which in verse 17:7 (in the same sura) is described as a masjid. The Quran ( Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; its literal meaning is the recitation and is often called Al Quran Al Karim: The Noble Quran, also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... The Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary (Hebrew: הר הבית Har HaBayit, Arabic: الحرم الشريف Al-Haram As-Sharif), is a hotly contested religious site in the old city of Jerusalem. ... The Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary (Hebrew: הר הבית Har HaBayit, Arabic: الحرم الشريف Al-Haram As-Sharif), is a hotly contested religious site in the old city of Jerusalem. ... Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... Muhammad is a common male name for Muslims. ... Ibn Ishaq (or ibn Ishaq), (d. ... The Hadith (الحديث, pl. ...

Many Western historians regard this as the originally intended interpretation, for instance Heribert Busse and Neal Robinson (see references.) However, some disagree, arguing that at the time this verse of the Quran was recited (around the year 621, unless you believe Wansbrough) many Muslims understood the phrase "furthest mosque" as a poetic phrase for a mosque already known to them, a mosque in Heaven, or as a metaphor. For the following reasons, they find it unlikely that this verse referred to a location in Palestine: Events Byzantine Emperor Heraclius invades Persia Muhammad visits heaven, in the Isra wal-Miraj (according to Muslim belief. ...

1. There were already two places that Muslim tradition of that time period called "the furthest mosque"; one was the mosque in Medina (Arthur Jeffrey, The Suppressed Quran Commentary of Muhammad Abu Zaid, Der Islam, 20 (1932): 306) and the other was the mosque in the town of Jirana, which Muhammed is said to have visited in 630, although Solomon's Temple is of course further than either. (Alfred Guillaume, Where Was Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa? Al-Andalus, (18) 1953: 323-36)
2. When Muslims finally did conquer and occupy Jerusalem, they are not known to have identified the Temple Mount with "the furthest Mosque" until 715.

In 715 the Umayyads built a new mosque on the Temple Mount; they named this Mosque al-masjid al-aqsa, the Al-Aqsa Mosque or "furthest mosque". A. L. Tibawi, a Palestinian historian, argues that this action "gave reality to the figurative name used in the Koran." (A. L. Tibawi, Jerusalem: Its Place in Islam and Arab History, Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1969, p. 9.) Events Muhammad captures Mecca (January). ... Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh, meaning peace) in the Tanakh (Old Testament), is the third king of Israel (including Judah), builder of the temple in Jerusalem, renowned for his great wisdom and wealth and power, but also blamed for falling away from worshipping the... The word temple has different meanings in the fields of architecture, religion, geography, anatomy, and education. ... Events August 11 - Germanus is translated from the bishopric of Cyzicus to the Patriarch of Constantinople Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik End of the reign of Empress Gemmei of Japan, she is succeeded by Empress Gensho. ... Events August 11 - Germanus is translated from the bishopric of Cyzicus to the Patriarch of Constantinople Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik End of the reign of Empress Gemmei of Japan, she is succeeded by Empress Gensho. ... The Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary (Hebrew: הר הבית Har HaBayit, Arabic: الحرم الشريف Al-Haram As-Sharif), is a hotly contested religious site in the old city of Jerusalem. ... The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is not to be confused with the Dome of the Rock Mosquée Al-Aqsa The Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى, Masjid Al_Aqsa, literally farthest mosque) is part of the complex of religious buildings in Jerusalem known as either the Majed Mount or Al_Haram...

The evidence is insufficient to confirm whether a specific meaning had been attached to this verse before the Muslim conquest and occupation of Jerusalem. However, it is known that by 25 years after the conquest the account of the Isra and Miraj was generally believed.

External references

• "Night Journey" (http://www.islam-is-the-only-solution.com/isra.htm)
• The Miracle of al-Isra and al-Miraj (http://www.geocities.com/islamicmiracles/miracle_of_al.htm)
• Egyptian Ministry of Culture Publication: The Prophet Muhammad's 'Night Journey' was Not to Jerusalem but to Medina (http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP56403)
• A. Bevan, Mohammed's Ascension to Heaven, in "Studien zu Semitischen Philologie und Religionsgeschichte Julius Wellhausen," (Topelman, 1914,pp. 53-54.)
• B. Schreike, "Die Himmelreise Muhammeds," Der Islam 6 (1915-16): 1-30
• J. Horovitz, "Muhammeds Himmelfahrt," Der Islam 9 (1919): 159-83
• Heribert Busse, "Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991): 1-40.
• Heribert Busse and Georg Kretschmar, Jerusalemer Heiligstumstraditionen (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1987)
• Heribert Busse, "The Destruction Of The Temple And Its Reconstruction In The Light Of Muslim Exegesis Of Sûra 17:2-8", Jerusalem Studies In Arabic And Islam, 1996, Vol. 20, p. 1.
• N. Robinson, Discovering The Qur'ân: A Contemporary Approach To A Veiled Text, 1996, SCM Press Ltd.: London, p. 192.